It’s time to cheer on the O. Henry Mustangs on the national stage.

The O. Henry Middle School cheer team will be competing at the National High School Cheerleading Championship at Walt Disney World Saturday.

"This experience is a culmination of months of hard work," said coach Michael Shackelford. "The team set the goal of competing at Nationals back at cheer camp in July, and when we earned that bid to Nationals, the team was thrilled.”

In November, the team competed at the UCA Houston Regionals, placing fourth and the UCA North Dallas Regional, where they placed third. The team's score was high enough to earn an invitation to compete for nationals.

“We have been practicing every Saturday, getting better and better as we approach the competition,” he said. “They've worked very hard through a very difficult season, and they are ready to take the stage this weekend."

For over 40 years, the Universal Cheerleaders Association National High School Cheerleading Championship has been the country's most prestigious high school cheer national championship.

The O. Henry cheer team will compete in the Junior High Game Day Non-Tumbling division along with 18 other teams. They must perform four elements: a band dance, an offensive/defensive sideline chant, a cheer, and a fight song dance.

The national competition will occur at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney World. The top nine teams will make it to the finals on February 13.

You can cheer on the O. Henry on tv.varsity.com on Saturday, February 12 at 2:13 pm EST on the Arena West (Green) stage. O. Henry will be posting the performance on their website shortly after the competition.

Good luck at nationals, Mustangs!